bloggish thoughts, interesting links, short news items
Here’s a little love from the staff! Hoping everyone’s summer has started well! We miss you!! Be deeply encouraged! #loveGodloveHokies
Posted by NLCF on Tuesday, June 6, 2017
A few weeks ago I was reading through the gospel accounts of Jesus after his resurrection. The famous interaction between Jesus and the disciples on their way to Emmaus in Luke 24 stuck out to me anew. If you’re unfamiliar, two men leaving Jerusalem are troubled by the events that have unfolded during the Passover, especially the gruesome crucifixion of the man they followed, Jesus. They encounter a stranger who walks with them along the way. Unbeknownst to them, this man is himself the risen Jesus. He begins to explain to them the scriptures regarding the Messiah and about the events that happened. They invite him to dinner and as Jesus breaks the bread, they suddenly recognize him and he disappears from their sight. They turn to each other in amazement and begin to run, AT NIGHT, back to Jerusalem to tell the others. Two things stick out to me from this amazing encounter. First, this verse – “They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”” (Luke 24:32) Second, their immediate response through obedience.
“Were not our hearts burning within us…”
Perhaps we can relate to these men. Buzzing after an encounter with the risen Savior they leave changed, uplifted, mesmerized. I sometimes can fall into the trap as a church staff member of wanting to create these moments for the congregation. I want them to experience that “heart-burning” sensation when they read the Word, or hear the Gospel, or in their prayer and reflective times. I cannot create these on my own. That’s a good thing – I’m not God.
However I can, hopefully, help foster receptive hearts and responsive wills to the word of God. Diving into the spiritual disciples myself can create a more attentive heart, and I can encourage those around me to do the same.
But… the disciples who encountered Jesus weren’t just suddenly “in-tune”. They didn’t just continue on their merry way home to prepare for the week ahead. They left and immediately went back to Jerusalem to share their news.
When we encounter Jesus, whether it’s a moment while reading scripture, a word from prayer or reflection, or in the serving of others – we must respond.
We must be aware that our culture desires us to limit our faith experiences to behind closed doors occurrences on Sunday mornings, and compartmentalize our worship – setting it aside for “real life” throughout the week. Too many times we may have an amazing encounter with Christ, only to say “wow,” and move on as if that’s it.
But that’s not what following Jesus looks like.
There must be a moment when our belief becomes reality. Where our knowledge becomes action. Where hearing becomes obedience.
Perhaps Jesus famous proclamation in Mark 1:15 of “the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news” could be even further simplified as “hear the good news of the Kingdom and respond!” Listen and obey!
In Luke 6, drives this point home.
“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”
[Luke 6:46ff – emphasis mine]
These words are strong, because they matter. The disciples along the road recognized this, and obeyed.
That’s actually another piece of this encounter that stands out. The disciples hear and respond in congruence – together. The best way to heed Jesus’ call on our lives is within a community. Whether it’s one or several hundred people. Our commitment to our brothers and sisters in Christ allows us to be a part of this community that stretches back two thousand years. We can’t do this alone!
The encounter along the road to Emmaus is a great passage of scripture that helps place us in that very real time Jesus walked around this earth resurrected. The text speaks to us just as Jesus did to the disciples – here I am! It’s really me! Now go and do!
What can we understand from this passage of scripture?
~Robbie Poff, NLCF Staff
The other day a friend asked me if I had ever witnessed a miracle, and immediately my head started to run through any stories I could recall of some crazy healing or unbelievable provision from the Lord. These kinds of miracles are scattered throughout the Gospels. Especially in Mark, it seems like Jesus could barely eat a meal without being interrupted to cure leprosy or blindness or even death. I don’t know about you, but these are the things my mind jumps to when asked about miracles.
There’s a story in Mark 2, though, about a paralyzed man who gets dropped through the roof of a house by his friends so that Jesus could heal him. These people had heard about all the things Jesus had been doing, and they wanted their friend to experience a miracle first hand. What’s interesting about this story is that Jesus doesn’t immediately say, “Stand up, pick up your mat and walk out of here.” Instead, he first says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” In the midst of all these crazy miracles Jesus is performing, Mark points our attention to something even crazier: Jesus can wipe away all our sins. It’s not that this guy was paralyzed because he sinned a lot and therefore he must be forgiven before he could be healed. Jesus was simply getting straight to the heart of the issue: the common root of all pain and suffering is humanity’s sinful condition. And Jesus says, “I can fix that. I’m going to make it right.” One pastor said it like this, “Forgiveness is the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performs. It meets the greatest need (we’re dead in sin without it); it costs the greatest price (Jesus’s death on the cross); and it brings the greatest blessing (reconciliation with God and becoming part of his family) and the most lasting results (life eternal).”
I don’t think miracles are as rare as we make them out to be. They are happening every single day when a sister forgives her family for not listening to her hurts, when a friend forgives a roommate for being petty with the chores, when a son forgives his dad for not being more present, when a traveler forgives airport security for racially profiling her. This is the Gospel at work. These are all just small tastes of the greatest miracle ever: forgiveness given through Jesus Christ. I need this miracle. And I want to be a part of bringing this miracle to others. So often, though, I choose to hold on to faults or wrongs because it gives me the feeling of power. Remember when we wanted a miracle to be hard? Well, forgiveness certainly fits that description. I don’t have an easy answer for this, but if I’m serious about bringing God’s Kingdom here and proclaiming Good News, I have to get serious about forgiving. I have to humbly submit to the way of Jesus and trust my little miracles of forgiveness are pointing people to the greatest miracle ever.
~Meg Hearl, NLCF Staff
The Lord has led me to focus on prayer this summer. Prayer has been something that always confused me. I generally understand how to pray in public and how to have a conversation with the Lord, however, I always feel like I’ve been missing something in my prayer life. It feels incomplete. Therefore, this summer, I am reading a book called “A Guidebook to Prayer” by MaryKate Morse (whom I had the privilege of hearing at the Missio Alliance conference in April).
One of the first chapters is on Creative Prayer. This concept began to shift my view of prayer. I used to see it as something I need to schedule to do and it needs to be my sole focus during that time. I now understand how while that is one way to pray, it is not all there is. When I invite God into something I am already doing that is creative, whether cooking, painting, singing, etc I get to enjoy community with Him in that space. “By being creative we allow God to open up areas of our lives that are not controlled or managed” (p 35). By engaging with Him in something I am already doing, not only am I “killing two birds with one stone” (something I really love doing) but I am learning how to pray without ceasing, how to truly live my life in constant communication with the Spirit.
“Creative prayer requires solitude… Solitude requires that we get rid of the scaffolding we often use to prop up our lives. Constant connection equals constant distraction. In solitude there are no friends to talk to, no meetings and no internet access… Solitude gives us ‘negative space.’ In art negative space is the place where there is nothing, no color or line. In Japan the word is ma meaning pause or gap…. Therefore, creative prayer needs space in both time where there are no distractions and place where there is no intrusion. The result of solitude is compassion” (p 36-37).
As an extremely extroverted individual, solitude can be challenging. But shifting my focus and allowing creative prayer to be a time where I engage in something I enjoy and focus on God as my partner who is actually creating with me and guiding me throughout the process, changed my view of solitude. I thoroughly enjoy being in His presence and doing something we both love to do. I encounter such incredible peace and joy with each experience.
~Anna Gibbs, NLCF Staff
I was driving down the road the other day when a familiar scenario played out. I pulled up behind a line of cars at a busy traffic light and there was a man there with a sign reading something along the lines of, “Hungry family, no job.” A twinge of guilt and confusion hit my gut. He was taking cash handouts from the cars in front of me and I began a slight panic of wondering what to do. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has faced situations like this. But the question often arises, what do you do? Obviously, we can’t tackle this whole topic in one blog post, but let’s hit the highlights.
There’s an old saying, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” These are essentially the two viewpoints of “simply giving, no questions asked” vs “giving wisely and investing in long-term solutions”. To put it shortly, I think there is the time and place for both; to “give fish”, as well as to “teach to fish”.
“Give a man a fish…” You meet a homeless man who clearly could use a hot meal. You go eat with him and then part ways. Your gift of a meal was a good thing. There was a direct “emergency” need that you helped meet. The main downside to this perspective is that it is short-term. Most often when we see poverty, the problem runs deeper than a single meal or a $20 bill. Sometimes, when a short-term giving perspective takes over our entire thinking, people can become dependent, and all sense of self-motivation goes away.
“Teach a man to fish…” Honestly, giving a fish is much easier than teaching someone to fish. Teaching someone to fish involves helping in a long-term, sustainable format. What could this look like? If you have regular encounters with a particular individual, this involves lots of conversation and building a relationship with the person. With time comes trust. The more time you spend with someone, the more trust is built, and the more honest conversations can be had about moving forward out of poverty. This might also include finding out what long-term aid programs are available in your area that are designed to help people find jobs, housing, etc. Once you know what programs are available, you can then invite someone you meet to walk with you to the program office. Obviously, this “teaching” route is more involved, but often this is what truly helps in the long run.
At the end of the day, Jesus calls us to love everyone, care for those around us, and give to the poor. When you feel the tension of giving someone a $20 bill or investing in a long-term relationship, I recommend praying and seeking the Spirit’s direction…then move. When you encounter poverty, do you ignore it, or do something?
~David McCann, NLCF Staff
Currently, I’m sitting in a mix of emotions and unknowns. Being 39 weeks pregnant, feeling the weight of things that would be *helpful* to get done sooner than later while anticipating an imminent – unclear – AND awesome deadline … I’m at the mercy of feelings that might come as quickly as they might go. And it’s all rather tiring if I’m honest.
I get that not many readers would be in my boat currently, yet I imagine there are many of us who are in a time of transition – stepping into college for the first time, transferring, graduated and seeking what’s next, and everywhere in between. Any time of transition comes with a degree of uncertainty and with that – if I’m not entirely crazy – the opportunity for thoughts and feelings to get tossed around a bit. We find ourselves standing at the edge ready to embark upon a myriad of unknowns … Excited at what the future holds … Curious if we’re up to the task.
When I get to these places, I am most grateful for the way I am met by the tenderness of God. It is here that I am ministered to! Just as long as I’m willing to, for long enough, silence my voice (and the freak outs) and hear the knowing voice of my Creator.
In the midst of whirlwind-like timelines and expectations, God’s steadfastness remains constant. And I’m reminded of that! In His care for His children, He reminds us that He is constant and faithful and trustworthy. (Hosea 6.3 — as surely as the sun rises, he will appear) But even more intimately, while I see those things written in Scripture about His character, I am drawn in by the invitation He extends to rest. To just be and be with … Him. *releasing sigh*
Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. Mark 6.31
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46.10
This is God’s invitation not to sleep or lounge around, but to settle into the constant, steady, unending peace & rest in the bigness & power of Christ. A rest that comes with the reality that more is accomplished in God’s rest than in man’s work. This is the most life-giving place that we can be established in — the way that gives way for us to engage and navigate through the surrounding, imminent, and exciting whirlwind.
My prayer in this transition has been that I would have the wisdom to heed this invitation, even if just in my own spirit, even for just a moment. That I would seek peace and pursue it. And so I put that out there, so YOU are reminded that the invitation is yours too. HE is our steadfast. I am not at the center of it all – He is. And, praise the Lord for THAT! *praise hands emoji*
~Kristal Poff, NLCF Staff
There’s this story in the Old Testament about a huge party. In the book of Nehemiah, we find an account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. The Babylonians had all but destroyed the city when they conquered Israel. Many of the Israelites had been taken back to Babylon to be slaves. But decades later, Nehemiah got permission to go back to Jerusalem and lead an effort to rebuild the walls of the city. It wasn’t a smooth process but eventually, the walls were rebuilt. People could live in Jerusalem without the constant fear of attack. The Temple could be rebuilt. Israel had a home once more. And right after the walls were completed, the people who had returned to Jerusalem got together and they had a party. There were thousands of people there. They feasted together and they read the Law out loud to the whole party. And all of it served as a reminder of what God had done for Israel. They still had plenty of work to do but they stopped for just a moment to celebrate God’s provision. At one point, Nehemiah stands up and says, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)
The joy of the Lord of the Lord is your strength. You’ve probably heard people say this before. It’s a good thought. It sounds comforting and reassuring. But what in the world does it mean? How exactly is the joy of the Lord our strength? The spiritual discipline of celebration is how the joy of the Lord becomes our strength.
We have all kinds of celebrations in our culture. There are holidays like Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving. We celebrate birthdays, engagements, anniversaries, and retirements. It’s not like we don’t have celebrations. It’s just that we’re lousy at celebrating. We observe these holidays and occasions but we don’t really celebrate. When these holidays and occasions come around, often they simply serve as an excuse to get together with family and friends, share a meal, give and receive presents, and maybe shoot off a bottle rocket or two. Those are all good things (except in certain states where bottle rockets are illegal). But that’s not the kind of celebration that will allow the joy of the Lord to be our strength.
When we practice the spiritual discipline of celebration, we focus our thoughts on God’s goodness toward us. How have we seen God move in our lives? What have we seen God provide for us? What prayers has God answered? How has God’s Kingdom been expanding around us? As we consistently come back to these questions and rejoice in the Lord’s goodness toward us, our faith grows. We’re more aware of the fact that God is walking with us day by day. Whatever we’re dealing with, we know God is in it with us. We feel more confident as we take steps of faith because we’ve seen God use us in the past. When storms come, we have a strong foundation. We know the goodness of the Lord. We’ve experienced the joy of walking through life with Him and seeing Him move. We can go back to times when He has provided for us. The joy of the Lord has become the thing that we rely on and trust when difficulties come. We’re not swayed by the storms because we have a strong foundation, a foundation built on God’s goodness toward us in the past.
So what are some ways we can engage in the discipline of celebration? A great place to start is with some weekly reflection. Set aside some time each week to ask yourself how you’ve seen God moving in your life that week. How has God answered your prayers? How has God used you? Consider writing those things down. When we write things like that out on a weekly basis, we’re more likely to remember them and they’re available for us when we need a boost of joy and/or faith.
In the Old Testament, God often told the Israelites to build a monument or rename a landmark to help them remember what He had done for them. Every time they would pass by that place, they would retell the story that led to the renaming or building of the monument. That’s a helpful practice for us as well. When he got back from raising support to go on staff, David McCann claimed Lane Stadium as his monument to how God had provided for him. When he goes there or he passes by it, it causes him to reflect on God’s faithfulness and provision. Pick a place and claim it as your monument to what God has done in your life. Go there or pass by it regularly and reflect on God’s goodness toward you. If you go to that place with other people, share the story of how God moved in your life.
One of the easiest things we can do to practice this discipline is to take advantage of the celebratory occasions we already have. At Christmas, the season that’s based on celebrating Jesus’s coming, take some time and consider how you’ve seen Jesus come or show up in your life throughout the year. When your mom’s birthday rolls around, don’t just post Happy Birthday on her Facebook profile. Share with her how God has used her in your life. When your anniversary comes, use it as an opportunity to reflect on how God has used you and your spouse/significant other over the last year. When your friend gets a job or internship, go have a good time. Thank the Lord for His provision. When you make a good grade on a test or you have a Gospel conversation with a classmate, stop and celebrate! Share it with friends. We are constantly missing out on opportunities to celebrate what God is doing in and around us simply because we don’t take the time to stop and savor it. Become a person who stops and revels in the moments of God’s provision both big and small. Become a person who your friends can’t wait to share their victories with because they know that you will celebrate well with them.
If we will give ourselves to consistently celebrating what the Lord is doing in our lives, the joy of the Lord will become our strength. Our lives will be marked by joy. We will be strong, trusting in the Lord, and drawing close to Him both in difficult seasons and in exciting seasons. We will have that solid foundation in the Lord when the storms of life come. Our faith in God will grow and we’ll be more available for Him to use us. So who wants to party?
~Christian Hearl, NLCF Staff
Stop for a minute and consider the number of noises around us every single day. Our phones constantly ring or vibrate, notifying us of another text message or Facebook friend request. We listen to our professors or our bosses and co-workers talk about all the important things that we need to know. Our TVs blare as we get ready every morning and as we watch our favorite show or event every night. Our headphones serenade us with the latest single from Beyonce or the newest episode of our favorite podcast. Cars zoom by on the streets outside our houses. Our friends share their latest stories or argue about which Star Wars movie is really the best (Can’t we all just agree that it’s clearly Episode IV: A New Hope?). We can scarcely sit still without consuming some form of noise, be it TV or music or a quieter noise like we experience as we read a book or do our homework.
Our lives are loud. For many of us, it may be hard to remember the last time we experienced true silence. It’s not that noise is bad. The problem is noise distracts us. It demands our attention. It keeps us from focusing on the most important things. It prevents us from hearing the voice of God that so often comes in the form of a gentle nudge in our hearts.
The discipline of silence and solitude is an escape from all the noise. It allows us to have time to recalibrate, to take a good hard look at ourselves and consider what we’re spending our lives chasing after. It frees us from the distractions around us, the ones that enable us to ignore the darkness in our hearts or the emptiness of the things we’re pursuing. It creates space for us to just sit with God and let Him say or do whatever He wants.
We see Jesus practicing this discipline throughout the Gospels. He’s constantly getting away from the crowds to be with God. Most of us have probably seen this as we read the Scriptures. What we may have missed, though, is that some of Jesus’s biggest miracles and most important moments of ministry take place right after He gets away to practice to silence and solitude. In Luke 5:16, we see Jesus practice this discipline and the next thing we read about is Him healing a man who was paralyzed. In Luke 6:12, Jesus withdraws from the crowds for a night and the next day, He calls His 12 disciples. Right before Jesus feeds the 5000, He gets away from the crowds in Mark 6:31. Even as His crucifixion is imminent, Jesus withdraws to be with God in the garden of Gethsemane. It seems that the Lord really used this discipline in the life of Jesus and He continues to use it in our lives today to fill us up and speak to us, to realign us with Him, and to prepare us to be used by Him.
So how can we practice the discipline of silence and solitude? One, begin your daily time with God with 10 minutes of silence. This is a good way to first start practicing this discipline. For most of us, even 10 minutes of silence is not something we’re used to. But when we do this, there are some really neat things that start to happen. For one, starting our time with God in silence surrenders that time to God for Him to do whatever He wants with it. I don’t know about you but I have a tendency to go into my time with God with an agenda. I want to talk to God about this thing or that thing. I want to know what He thinks about it. I want to know how I should respond and I want to ask God to move in that situation. This isn’t a bad thing. God wants to hear about what’s going on in our lives and He wants us to ask Him to work in those situations. But if we go into that time with too strong of an agenda, we may miss out on what God wants to say to us. We may be so focused on our agenda that don’t let God speak to us in other areas of our lives. By starting with silence, we’re giving the control that time to God. There are things we’ll want to talk about with God but He’s the one who guides that time. He’s the one in control. The other thing that this discipline will do if we build it into the beginning of our time with God is it will make us more aware that we are sitting in the presence of Almighty God. A lot of times we open up the Scriptures or we start praying almost as a force of habit. It can feel so routine that we can forget how amazing it is that we are spending time with our Father, the omnipotent Creator of the Universe. That is a huge thing and this discipline can help us hold on to how awesome it is to be with God. Use those 10 minutes of silence to focus on the fact that you’re sitting in God’s presence. I like to even spend those 10 minutes imagining what it would be like if I was coming before the throne of God physically. What would it be like if God was sitting across from me in bodily form? The reality is God is sitting there with us and that is awesome.
Another way to begin engaging in the discipline of silence and solitude is to set aside an extended time each week or each month to go to a place and be alone in silence. For me, that time is every Tuesday at Pandapas Pond. I get out there and try to spend at least an hour in silence followed by some time of prayer. God has used that time to do and say a lot of different things. Sometimes, He uses it to convict me. Other times, we just spend the time sitting together. Just being out there sitting with Him fills me up. Other times, He says something specific to me like something I need to do or things He sees in me that He’s excited about or proud of. Again, He can do whatever He wants with the time. We just have to create the space.
As you start to practice silence and solitude, there’s a few things to keep in mind. It’s going to be hard. Especially when you first start. As soon as you sit down to be alone and silent before God, you’re going to have a million thoughts rush into your mind. You’re going to be thinking about all the things that you have to do later that day. You’ll remember things you forgot to do. You’ll think about random things like sports or TV shows or books or school. Everything in you will scream against the silence. It can be helpful to have something with you that you can write on so that you can quickly jot down the thoughts you’re having. You don’t want to forget them, but at the moment, you’re focusing on sitting with the Lord. I like to start by asking God silently what He wants to do with that time. Then start reflecting or meditating on the Scriptures. Focus on the fact that God is present with you right there. Think about how your relationship with Him is going. Have there been times in the past week that He was trying to speak and you ignored Him or you didn’t recognize His voice? Process through those. Just let the Lord guide your thoughts. It will probably feel really weird at first. You’ll wonder if you’re wasting your time. You’ll question how God would actually speak during that time. You may not be sure what to even do with that time. We have to remember that there’s no perfect way to engage in this discipline. It looks different for every person. You probably won’t hear something from God every time. But there’s still value in surrendering that time to be with Him. Keep practicing it consistently. As you do, you’ll start to get a better idea of what to think about during that time and how God is using it in you.
It is imperative for us to escape the noise of our lives on a regular basis. In our culture, it’s so easy to let the loudest, most urgent things control our lives. But as followers of Christ, we can’t let that happen. We are called to have Jesus and His Kingdom be our highest pursuit. As we consistently practice silence and solitude, we’ll see ourselves be continually recalibrated to the life of Jesus. As a result, we’ll be more available and more useful to Jesus and there’s no greater life than that.
